Black Lives Matter is more than a slogan. It is a movement of people fighting for liberty, justice, and freedom. Black Lives Matter Long Beach is, as they describe, “…a local organizing effort … in solidarity with the national, U.S.-based, #BlackLivesMatter movement.” The organizers are clear about their goals and mission as a Black-led organization…
1968 vs. 2020 is the latest area of discussion and contention for critics, intellectuals, and political pundits. There is no doubt that the year 1968 was one of the most traumatic ones in post-World War Two America. The United States of America in 2020 is nearly seven months in and we’re all finding ourselves comparing…
Centro CHA is a Long Beach-based Latino/a/x nonprofit social service agency formed in 1992. The non-profit serves to advance and advocate for the well-being of underrepresented low-income Latino/a/x children, youth, and families in the City of Long Beach. Jessica Quintana is the organization’s long time Executive Director. PalacioMagazine.com conducted a Zoom interview with the Centro…
Darick Simpson is a man comfortable in his goals and his direction in life. During much of the time that I’ve known Simpson, he served for sixteen years as the executive director of the Long Beach Community Action Partnership (LBCAP). He is one of the most incisive, committed, and the chilliest people I’ve ever met….
Hearing Many Voices will be a series of conversations that PalacioMagazine.com is launching today around the issues of the day. Last week, we published a feature opinion piece titled “Looting Is Not Change and A Riot Is Not A Revolution.” Ina Parker-Hicks, an expatriate from Long Beach now living in Berlin, Germany was straightforward in…
Charles Julian Fearing has been around music all his life. Fearing began performing on a piano when he was three years old. We’re not talking about a child’s piano. No, we’re talking about an adult piano. His mother was a Mezzo-soprano singer and his uncle, a musician. “…she would be at the Shrine or the…
New York City Health Department reports staggering COVID-19 numbers. As of May 17, there are 190,408 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The details can be numbing: Confirmed deaths: 15,888 Probable deaths: 4,832 50,120 people hospitalized Five of my immediate family members live in New York. My sister Virginia Ruiz Badillo and our brother, Donnie Ruiz live…
Margaret Ruiz is my sister. She and her husband live in the Forest Hills section of Queens, New York. The borough of Queens is an epicenter for COVID-19. As of May 10, the number of infections in Queens was 55,380 out of a total citywide of 178,766. The death count in Queens is 4,455. Confirmed…
Vivian Malauulu is the President of the Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees and also represent Area 2 in the city. The journey to the Board of Trustees and her leadership of it has been shaped by strong life experiences. Born Vivian Ramirez impoverished in a barrio in Honduras, the then seven-year-old child…
Dave Williams hesitantly throws out words when you ask him to describe himself in a word or sentence. “Wow…cantankerous…you know I wouldn’t want to be that hostile sounding.” Prodded, the jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and writer tries again. “I can’t. I think I need a paragraph. Driven…maybe I have a bit of chip that I’m…